In Brooklyn Scuffle With Suspect, Officer Falls Over a Railing and Dies

Robert Stolarik for The New York TimesAlain Schaberger was the first city officer to die on duty since May 28, 2009, when Omar J. Edwards was mistakenly shot by another officer.

It was a relatively routine call, the kind that the New York City police usually handle without too much trouble. A frightened woman in Brooklyn telephoned 911 early Sunday morning and reported that her ex-boyfriend was threatening her.

“He said he’s going to kill me,” the woman cried. “He said he’s across the street, and he’s going to kill me and ‘Don’t call the cops!’ ”

Four officers responded to the single-room-occupancy building in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, where the 48-year-old woman lived, and then drove her to a nearby brownstone to have her point out the man who had menaced her.

New York City Police Department.Alain Schaberger.

But on the darkened streets, the call, one of the 700 domestic violence reports a day that the police get, ended with the death of a police officer. As the police led the suspect out onto the stoop of the brownstone, the police said, he pushed one officer over the railing, causing the officer to tumble nine feet to a landing near the basement and break his neck.

Police officials said the officer, Alain Schaberger, 42, of the 84th Precinct, a 10-year veteran of the force who was engaged to be married, was pronounced dead shortly afterward at Lutheran Medical Center.

They identified the suspect as George Villanueva, 42, an unemployed man who had 28 prior arrests, mostly for robbery and burglary; had been to prison twice; and had been accused in a dozen reports of domestic violence by the woman who called 911 on Sunday. The woman, whose name is being withheld, had obtained two orders of protection against Mr. Villanueva.

What appears to be a routine assignment can become deadly very quickly,” Police Commissioner
Raymond W. Kelly said at a news conference at the hospital. “You don’t know going to encounter.”

Officer Schaberger was the first city officer to die in the line of duty since May 28, 2009, when
Omar J. Edwards, who was in plain clothes, was mistakenly shot in Harlem by another police officer while trying to arrest a suspect who had broken into his car. (Since then, at least two officers have died from 9/11-related illnesses, according to the police.)

And Officer Schaberger was killed just a few hours after a police officer in Nassau County was shot and killed in what was apparently another case of mistaken identity.

In the last four months alone, according to a law enforcement official, Mr. Villanueva had been arrested at least three times on charges of domestic violence against the same woman he was accused of threatening Sunday. On Nov. 3, he was accused of punching her in the face and head earlier that week. On Dec. 7, he was accused of punching her so severely in a Nov. 25 sidewalk fight that she required 10 stitches. On Feb. 4, he was arrested for a Jan. 18 episode in which he was accused of punching her at a party. The police had made a follow-up visit to the woman on Feb. 9, as part of a domestic violence prevention program. The outcomes of the domestic violence cases were not clear Sunday.

Michael Kirby Smith for The New York TimesThe suspect, George Villanueva, 42, who had 28 prior arrests, was escorted out of a Brooklyn station house on Sunday.

Jose Feliciano, 49, a resident of the Bergen Street building where the woman lives, said that Mr. Villanueva’s picture was posted near the entrance as someone who should not be allowed to enter. Still, he said, the woman, had continued to date Mr. Villanueva, although in the Feb. 4 complaint she described Mr. Villanueva as her ex-boyfriend.

“She tells me he beats on her,” the neighbor said, adding: but “she is in love with him.”

Another resident, William Daly, 64, said that he had heard Mr. Villanueva threaten the woman— “He’d say, ‘I’ll kill you if you go with any other man but me’ ” — and that a month ago he saw him punch her on the building’s wheelchair ramp.

“He came sweeping around and right to the side of her face — wham,” Mr. Daly said. “She fell on the ground on one knee.”

Mr. Villanueva’s uncle, Ely Figueroa, 62, said he, Mr. Villanueva’s father and Mr. Villanueva had spent Saturday night watching boxing matches and sharing three cases of beer. He guessed that Mr. Villanueva had downed six to nine beers, but Mr. Figueroa said that he did not appear drunk.

The 911 call came in at 4:22 a.m. Sunday from the woman, and a security guard at the building also called 911, saying Mr. Villanueva was arguing with the woman though he was not allowed near the building.

The officers took the woman to 45 St. Marks Place, where Mr. Villanueva and his father, Luis, live. The officers escorted Mr. Villanueva out of his apartment, and as they emerged onto the stoop, the woman got out of the police car and shouted, “That’s him!”

Mr. Villanueva began to struggle as the officers were trying to handcuff him, and he shoved Officer Schaberger over the railing of the steps, the police said. The brownstone’s stoop is four steps up from the ground level, but there is another set of stairs leading to a basement entrance.

“We have witnesses that say he was pushed with two hands from the steps over the railing,” Commissioner Kelly said.

Officer Schaberger, his heart still beating, was taken away by ambulance but was pronounced dead at the hospital. Another officer subdued Mr. Villanueva with a Taser, and Mr. Villanueva was taken to Woodhull Hospital for observation for several hours Sunday. The police charged him with first-degree murder for the aggravated murder of a police officer, criminal contempt and assault. Mr. Villanueva was arraigned late Sunday. No plea was entered, and he remained in custody.

Mr. Villanueva stayed silent and kept his head down as he was led out of a police station house to jail Sunday night. His brother, Danny Villanueva, expressed condolences to the officer’s family but described what had happened as “a tug of war” between the police and his brother, rather than a push. He said it would have been easy for someone to fall over the knee-high railing. “It’s a bad situation altogether,” he said.

Officer Schaberger was born in Saigon in 1969 to a Vietnamese mother and an American father and moved to East Islip on Long Island when he was 5, said his fiancée, Shoshone Peguese. He served in the Navy from 1991 to 1995, worked as a security guard, then graduated from the Police Academy in July 2001. Ms. Peguese, 45, lived with Officer Schaberger in a modest yellow wooden house near the banks of a stream on a rural road in Cortlandt Manor, about an hour north of New York City.

Ms. Peguese, who works for New York City Transit, said she and Officer Schaberger would go whale watching on Cape Cod. She is a member of the Peedee Indian Nation in Beaver Creek, S.C., and took Officer Schaberger to powwows, where he loved to sit and watch her dance.

“People thought he was Native American,” she said.

He was not the first officer to die while trying to intervene in a domestic dispute. On one such call in 1996, Officer Vincent Giudice either fell onto or was thrown into a broken mirror, and bled to death as a result of a slashed thigh.

Outside the 84th Precinct station house on Gold Street in Downtown Brooklyn, where purple bunting was hung in mourning on Sunday and counselors and chaplains came and went, Officer David Kozlow said domestic violence calls could be among the most challenging because of the passions involved. He said he had been to the Bergen Street residence himself.

“They have one thing on their mind,” he said of many domestic violence suspects, “that they want to get back at this person.” Sometimes, he said, they do not even acknowledge police officers because of tunnel vision created by their anger.

Joseph F. King, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, said “domestics,” as they are called, are often the trickiest disputes to handle because they have the appearance of being ordinary and everyday. “You throw in alcohol and drugs and all that emotion, and it’s a potentially dangerous mix,” he added.

Remember these brave souls – public sector workers – who put their lives on the line for us everyday, especially as the country seems in a mood to punish public servants for asking for decent pay for their work.

How and why are domestic abusers back on the streets after repeatedly violating order of protections?! I do not understand the laws of New York in regards of who is worthy of being protected. Does safety have a pricetag in NYC and if so how much? Because I thought my taxes covered it?

I can’t help but feel this woman holds some culpability for the officers death. First she continually goes back with this guy and then calls the cops when she gets beaten up. Then during the arrest, she gets out the police vehicle, to shout “thats him” and cause a commotion which ended up with the officer getting a broken neck. that’s a real tragedy.
People need to realize they are endangering others when they continually put themselves in situations, which require others to get them out of trouble.
That’s just how i see these situations.

How was this person out on the street?!!? The brooklyn district attorney’s office treats their cases like a joke, giving defendants who commit all sorts of crimes ridiculous plea offers when they deserve jail time or serious treatment programs-and this is what happens. This is a perfect example-this guy was arrested 3 times in the last 6 months. The last being last month. WHY IS THIS GUY OUT ON THE STREET??? WAKE UP BROOKLYN DA’s OFFICE AND START DOING YOUR JOB CORRECTLY!! This man has prior felony burglary and robbery arrests?? Why is he not in prison?? I have lived in brooklyn for many years and have always seen the efforts of the NYPD go to waste when they arrest criminals because the DA’s office lets them out @ days later. Perhaps the ADA’s in the office should focus on prosecuting people who actually commit crimes, specifically repeat offenders, instead of framing innocent men (a la Vecchione) in order to advance their career.

Not only is a police officer dead, but the woman who is called the “girlfriend” is in serious need of professional intervention. Eventually Mr. Villeneuva will kill his girlfriend, in spite of the protective order.

A man went to work and will not come home; he died while doing his job. A woman who claims to love her abuser will continue to accept the beatings he gives her. A sadder story cannot be found today.

This is terrible, of course, but maybe having an NYPD officer killed in such a brazen and unwarranted manner will FINALLY get our police department to recognize that the shoot first, ask questions later routine is a failure when citizens are victims and it’s a failure when law enforcement officers are victims. Unfortunately, I suspect it’s far more likely that nothing will change.

Really sad cops never no what is going to happen then we wonder why they sometimes over react. I have been on the other end of the cops rath but I understand they have to do what they have to do to make sure they make it another day.
If I am going to do bad I better b able to control myself if I get arrested or what ever happens happens.

Don’t understand why some commenters are blaming the woman. She seems as much of a victim here, having gotten restraining orders on her ex-boyfriend and still being threatened and attacked. She did the right thing by calling the police. The blame should fall on the violent criminal who pushed this policeman to his death.

“It was a relatively routine call, the kind that the New York City police usually handle without too much trouble. ”
Is not at all an accurate statement. When NYPD dispatches four officers on call it is not considered ‘routine’. My brother is a police officer and he will tell you the most dangerous call is one of domestic violence.
My condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of Officer Schaberger.

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